Native Laredoan, Bianca Rodriguez, returns to Laredo for another spectacular evening of Flamenco dance, music and more on September 7th, 2018. Accompanying Bianca will be Californian, Drea Pacot as well as the acclaimed local musical group, Amor Brujo.

"An Evening at the Opera with Robert Cardwell” is being coordinated by local singer/music instructor Veronica Ramirez, who was Cardwell’s voice and choir teacher at the Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts (VMT).

An hour of songs from various opera classics sung by Cardwell will be followed by a light reception “meet and greet.” Cardwell will be accompanied by Emily Baltzer, a first year Masters student in Collaborative Piano and a Teaching Assistant Accompanist for the University of North Texas Opera Department. She was awarded the Bleeker Music Award and won the University of Northwestern St. Paul 2014 Concerto competition.

After completing his apprenticeship last year, Cardwell sang the role of Sciarrone in Tosca with the Central Florida Lyric Opera. The 2015/2016 season also saw him return to the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the University of North Texas Opera. Other performance highlights include the title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, with the Amalfi Coast Music & Arts Festival in Italy, the title role of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Baron Zeta in Lehar’s The Merry Widow with the UNT Opera. Other roles with UNT Opera include Tonio in I pagliacci, The Duke in Romeo et Juliette, and The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance.

Cardwell’s awards include the ‘Robin Angly & Miles Smith Award’ at the Lois Alba Aria Competition, Amarillo Opera’s ‘Mila Gibson Fund for Young Artist Awards,’ and the ‘Edward Baird Singer of the Year’ at the Texoma Region Convention of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in 2009.

Robert Cardwell is a graduate of Raymond and Tirza Martin High School and the VMT. He secured his Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in Performance at West Texas A&M University, and is currently completing coursework toward a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of North Texas.

Admission is $15, with proceeds to defray his expenses to attend the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where he has been invited for the summer.

2015's Christmas show with Bo DePeña, Hartley Hall and Romana was a great way to close out the year! Anyone familiar with the artists know each of them always put on a great performance and this end of the year show was no different. The Yuletide spirit was certainly in the air and the performances cemented another memorable night and year at the gallery. With more events scheduled the first month of the new year, I am looking forward to what 2016 holds.